Thanks to Daniel Knight who was searching through books I read as a boy, read these strips to his mother who then suggested them for the blog.
From Take it easy, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz.
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Yesterday I posted a short clip of Krista Horning’s interview on KTIS last week, and today I have a clip from her mother, Mary.
Theirs is a hard story, full of questions about God. Yet God transformed it, using promises from his word.
To quote Mary, “God is sovereign, and God is good.” Yes!
I am grateful to God for the entire Horning family and his faithfulness in holding them up through many difficult things.
Again, thank you to KTIS and the Faith Radio network for making this interview freely available on their website.
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If you do not have the time to listen to the entire interview of Mary and Krista Horning on KTIS, here is about a two minute clip of Krista talking about her personal situation and God’s preciousness in her life.
This is how Christian hedonists talk – sorrowful, yet always rejoicing!
Copies of Just the Way I Am are still available through Desiring God.
Thank you to KTIS and the Faith Radio network for making this interview freely available.
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Stephen Hawking has written a new book, The Grand Design, in which he makes statements about God, or at least asserts that God is not necessary to explain the universe.
This isn’t a post about that. James Anderson wrote a helpful reply if you are interested in exploring that issue further.
No, this is a lament: There are ‘Christians’ who seem to think Dr. Hawking’s disability is worth mentioning in their usually-inadequate defense of God or the Bible. And by ‘mentioning’ I mean they use it in ways to make fun of or defame Dr. Hawking.
There were enough negative references to his disability on Twitter that a Washington Post blogger wrote a column on it.
I was hoping this was an over-statement – how could anyone be so rude? Or childish? Or uninformed? Unfortunately, after I read the comments attached to a couple of major newspaper articles, I saw the same thing as that Post blogger. It wasn’t many, but enough to be discouraging.
I expect this new book from Dr. Hawking will be an item for a while. So, even if it is only a few who conduct themselves badly in public, let’s help people in our churches understand two things:
- Stephen Hawking is not an idiot; Christians (and everyone else) look foolish when calling him that. He may be an opportunist – there is a reason he writes ‘popular’ works rather than limiting his writings to peer-reviewed journals and seminars – but he is no ‘idiot’ in the sense that most people mean.
- Dr. Hawking’s disability is no indicator of his standing before God. God is completely free to do whatever he wants to with his creation, including creating geniuses to live with significant disabilities who will deny him.
I find it difficult to do this without being judgmental or self-righteous. That, of course, doesn’t invite people to consider the heart-work that needs to happen which results in a changed attitude and actions. It does us no good if people feel bullied into silence.
Yet, when people in our churches make a direct connection between disability, disease or suffering and God’s displeasure, they are contradicting the Biblical accounts of Job, the Apostle Paul and the man born blind. That can’t go unchallenged, even if the challenge needs to be winsome.
And that ultimately becomes a statement about God and his sovereignty over his creation.
Of course I disagree with Dr. Hawking’s conclusions about God. That breaks my heart.
But it also breaks my heart when those who claim the name of Jesus decide sarcastic remarks about disability will somehow make Jesus look beautiful.
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Stephanie Kay of the Faith Radio Network opens the hour with a recent, powerful interview she had with Joni Eareckson Tada.
Krista and Mary follow that interview about 26 minutes into the podcast – you can listen to it here!
God is glorified in this interview. Krista and Mary offer phenomenal statements about God’s sovereign care. I am grateful to God to know the Horning family; they have encouraged my family countless times, and I know this interview will encourage you to see God for who he really is.
Yes, God is sovereign and God is good.
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From A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages:
Good Shepherd, Who carriest the lambs in Thine arms, give Thy Spirit, we beseech Thee, to all those engaged in training the young; make them patient, grant them tenderness, sincerity, and firmness, and enable them to lead young hearts to Thee, for Thy Name’s sake. Amen. Author unknown
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Thank you to my favorite Presbyterian (who happens to be my sister) for sending me this quote from Thomas Watson’s book, All Things for Good:
To know that nothing hurts the godly is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall cooperate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over.
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Why should we pay attention to who is teaching and what is being taught in our colleges and universities today? Why should we pray for and support academic institutions that seek to honor God above all things?
John Maynard Keynes offers a simple and compelling reason:
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.
Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.
Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
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Bethlehem’s own Lee Burtman, the volunteer Disability Ministry Site Leader at the North Site, wrote a compelling, convicting article for the most recent Minnesota Christian Chronicle.
I particularly appreciate it because Lee is actively involved in making things better for many families like hers. She, and her son, are gifts to Bethlehem!
You can read her article here.
Update: I understand some of you are not being taken directly to the article in the link above. The article can be found on page ten, in the middle of the page.
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All conference audio and video for The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability are now available at Desiring God!
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“God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals. . .”
September 14, 2010 by John Knight
With all the doctoring that we have been doing lately for Paul, I have found I don’t have any mental space for my normal reading schedule. The result: The little number in black that documents my unread personal emails is sitting at over 1,300 (thankfully my work email is mostly caught up!). The books I began over the summer have mostly been untouched for several weeks. My google reader keeps telling me I have more than 1,000 unread posts waiting for me. I haven’t used my electronic access to scholarly journals in weeks.
This isn’t normal for me as I love to read. That space in my head normally dedicated to this issue of disability and the Bible has been swallowed up in this medical issue for Paul.
But it is a great example of how finite I am – which leads to worshiping the God who is not limited in any way!
And I’m grateful for books that let me read helpful chunks about who God is in smaller bites – like Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.
Yes, it is more than 1,200 pages long. Yes, it looks intimidating.
But when I need something to get me oriented on who God is, this book is very helpful. It is organized, written well, and covers an extraordinary amount of material. It should be on every Christian’s shelf.
Here’s an example of something that helped me yesterday:
Books like these are no substitute for the Word of God. But faithful men like Wayne Grudem certainly help keep me oriented to who God is and who I am in relation to him.
Particularly that He is absolutely trustworthy, no matter the situation or circumstance in which I find myself.
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